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Burden of Proving Overtime Exemption Toughened
The US District Court gave an employer a summary judgment in an overtime case, concluding that the dispatchers and controllers fell...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Apr 18, 20231 min read


Commercial Lease Damages Denied
A tenant defaulted on a commercial lease two months after entering into a five-year lease. As is frequently the case in commercial...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Apr 4, 20231 min read


Right to Modify Employee Handbook Voids Arbitration
An employer who puts an arbitration agreement in an employee handbook cannot enforce it if it maintains the right to modify the handbook....

Paul Peter Nicolai
Mar 21, 20232 min read


Home Improvement Contractor Law Expanded
A contractor mismanaged funds paid by homeowners so that he needed more money to finish the project, failed to pay subcontractors, and...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Mar 14, 20231 min read


Wage Act Damages & Fees
An employer failed to pay $8,952.15 in accrued vacation pay when it discharged an employee. It paid the accrued vacation pay three weeks...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Mar 7, 20231 min read


Disclosure Of Secrets To A Competitor Not Actionable.
A federal court affirmed the dismissal of a trade secret lawsuit where the plaintiff disclosed confidential information on a call with an...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Feb 21, 20232 min read


Pop-Up Arbitration Notice Fails
A plaintiff was injured when an Uber driver collided with another vehicle. Uber asked to compel arbitration. It was denied because the...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Feb 14, 20231 min read


Corporate Veil Protected
Homeowners sued a corporation and its owner over a remodeling project gone bad. The homeowners said the company owner should be liable...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Feb 14, 20231 min read


CGL policy doesn’t cover 93A attorneys’ fees
The plaintiffs in the underlying case hired a company to clean up a sewage spill, after which the wife experienced ongoing respiratory...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Feb 7, 20231 min read


Workplace Drug Policies and State Marijuana Laws
Over the last two decades, over two-thirds of the states have passed laws authorizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes by...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Jan 17, 20232 min read


Printing While Traveling Means No Privilege
A plaintiff withheld an email saying the attorney-client privilege protected it. The plaintiff’s CEO received the email from the...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Jan 10, 20231 min read


Embarrassing Emails Go Public
A court of appeals affirmed the district court’s ruling by concluding that emails were judicial records to which the common law right of...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Jan 3, 20231 min read


Criminal Acts & Condo Liability
A complaint was filed against a condominium association over the murder of a couple in their penthouse. The court ordered the negligence...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Dec 20, 20221 min read


Forced Waiver of Claims Kills Arbitration Clause
An arbitration agreement that requires parties to waive federal statutory claims is unenforceable. According to the U.S. Court of Appeals...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Dec 6, 20222 min read


Accessing Website May Be Agreement to Arbitrate
According to one federal appellate court, just visiting a website may be consent to a binding arbitration agreement. A retailer contended...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Nov 29, 20222 min read


Employer’s Secret Computer Search Is Unlawful Retaliation
A federal court of appeals has held that a forensic search of an employee’s work computer could constitute unlawful retaliation for an...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Nov 15, 20222 min read


State Panel Can Strike ‘Uneconomic’ Zoning Conditions
The Massachusetts Supreme Court upheld a decision by the Housing Appeals Committee rejecting conditions the Milton zoning board put on an...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Oct 18, 20221 min read


Black Lives Matter Case Lost
Employees disciplined for wearing face masks bearing the phrase “Black Lives Matter” had their claims dismissed. The appeals court...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Oct 11, 20221 min read


93A Defense Defeated
A former employee sued her former employer for trying to enforce a restrictive covenant preventing her from practicing her profession...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Oct 4, 20221 min read


Town Rules Paved Over For Solar Development
A developer’s request to construct a solar energy system was denied because an access road to the facility through Waltham was a...

Paul Peter Nicolai
Sep 27, 20221 min read
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